On Wings of Fragile Dreams
by Flare757
Summary: At age 12, Hiccup gives up on trying to fit in and slowly hatches a plan to leave. Three years later and he's ready to go. If only fate would let him. Worry catches him and he's forced to postpone his plans. AU, follows canon slightly.
1. Chapter 1 - Time to Go

So this will be the first time I'm writing for the How to Train Your Dragon fandom. This is an AU, Hiccup gave up trying to fit in at 12. No pairings as of right now. Magic may come into play later. Hope you guys like the story. I will try for weekly updates. Uh, that's it I think. Feel free to correct me on grammar and spelling if you see anything wrong.

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This is Berk. It's twelve days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. My village. In a word, sturdy. It's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. We've got hunting, fishing, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests. Most places have mice or mosquitoes. We have ... dragons.

Most would leave, but not us. See we're Vikings, and Vikings have stubbornness issues. Only, I'm not a Viking. No, I'm not much of anything to the village. Just a walking, talking fishbone that everyone wishes would disappear. My name is Hiccup, wonderful name I know, and tonight I'm going to do just that.

I've been planning my departure for a while now, once it became clear that there was no way I'd fit in here. Not that I haven't tried, believe me I have. Multiple times. It's just that each attempt went terribly wrong; sorry, I destroyed a part of your house when I grabbed the dragon's attention and ran away to sae you; oops, minor issue with the springs, didn't mean to almost cut your hand off with the axe thrower; my apologies, I didn't mean for anyone to get tangled in the ropes with water-filled buckets meant to help put out fires, I was sure I strung them up higher.

Each time I tried something, it went wrong in some horrendous way. I was tired of it. All of it. The bullying, the teasing, the mocking comments, the general apathy to me of the village. Hey, at least I won't be an embarrassment to my father anymore. Did I mention that my father is the Chief of Berk? Stoick the Vast. I would've tried to stay for a little while longer. Really I would have, I do still love him after all. But my father is the same the rest of the village, if not worse. It's not that he does anything to me. No, it's the fact that he does nothing at all except look at me with _so much disappointment_ in his eyes whenever I do something.

But that ends tonight. Tonight I'd sail away from here, under the cover of darkness and a dragon raid. I had hidden my self-built boat in a smallish cove I had found on the far north side of Berk, its only entrance a long, narrow fissure in the cliffside. Of course I didn't want to give my father any reason to come looking for me. So I had built a new machine I called the Mangler and set it up atop the cliffside overlooking the village. Hopefully he'd think that a dragon got me up there when the village found it without me.

Maybe he'd be in grief thinking I was dead, but things would be better in long run. Right? Eventually he would get over the loss of me, everyone would be happy that I wasn't around to mess things up anymore, and they would finally have Snotlout for heir, like they always wanted.

I snorted at that, they didn't need the kind of chief Snotlout would be, but it would the kind they deserved in my opinion. This was it, I was finally leaving. After coming up with this plan three years ago I was finally leaving. I had finally run out of reasons to try and fit in. It was equal parts liberating and terrifying. I would be free of Berk and venturing into the wider world. This would be good-bye.

I quickly finished packing up my boat before pausing, to take in my cove. I had been through here so much putting everything together that I had never really stopped to look at it. I had built a small forge that I had used to make a number of projects, the boat and Mangler being some of them. A small cabin, maybe half a faðmr in length and width, completely furnished over the last three years and a nice little covered garden, I did take some pride in growing everything there and was a bit sad to leave it. And a dock meant only for my boat.

My breath caught for a second, I had never really stopped to appreciate what I had built here. Everything here was built by me, for me and no one else. That was when I heard a loud, piercing shriek and crash.


	2. Chapter 2 - Or Not

So thanks for the kind complements so far. Next on the list is a minor detail that might not be readily apparent. Dragons are not at their cartoon size scalings, but instead are at their official released heights. So Toothless is 26 feet tall, Stormfly 30 feet tall, and so on and so forth. So, yeah, they're big. Any hoo, moving on, I said I'd release a chapter a week, to clarify on that, I will release a chapter any day between Sunday-Saturday. Meaning there could be two chapter days in a row if I wanted. Now, on with the story! (I hope it isn't too bad.)

Milenalupin - I hope I can keep Hiccup sounding in character rather than too OOC.

* * *

I winced hard at the crash noise. That had to have hurt, whatever had crashed. I turned back to my boat, the Hopeful Puffin, before sighing. I had to curse my curiosity, it would get me killed someday, I was sure of it. But hopefully it wouldn't be today, running out of my cove. The shriek and crash sounded like they came from close by. Somewhere around Raven's Point perhaps?

I shrugged to myself, sounded like a good a place as any to start looking. Just had to get back to my cove before dawn. I'd leave tomorrow night instead since I'd probably still be searching until then. I'd start at Raven's Point and circle out from there, looking for the crash site and whatever made it.

A few hours, cuts and bruises, later I finally stumbled into the crash area. Honestly, I had just about given up on finding this place. There was something there, but I couldn't make it out in the moonlight. I pulled out my knife, cautiously advancing on the shape until I could make what it was. It was obviously a dragon, but it wasn't one I had ever seen before.

It took a few moments before something clicked in my mind and I realized I was looking at the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, the Night Fury. I recoiled immediately and tripped over my feet before I realized it was bound in a bola. A bola which looked suspiciously like the one I had loaded up in the Mangler. I shifted slowly closer to take a good look at the weights, looking for the mark I put on all my experimental stuff. I couldn't see anything clearly, so I got nearer than I was happy with to the Night Fury. Pressing close to the dragon, I turned the closest weight and found what I was looking for.

It was the bola from the Mangler, but who shot it? The villagers wouldn't touch it, being something I made; Gobber wouldn't fire it, not trusting my experiments not to backfire on him; Stoick wouldn't either since he wouldn't understand it. Fishlegs? He really was the only person who sort of understood my machines, but to fire it? I didn't think so, but maybe in desperation? Great, now I was worried about him. He was the only one I could think of that'd fire it. The twins could try, but I twin-proofed this one.

Sighing again, I looked at the dragon I had been pressing against. It's scales had been warm through my shirt and surprisingly sleek and smooth. I could kill it and bring back its head to Stoick, but I doubted things would change much. Maybe at one point I'd have believed that, but not now. But what else could I do with it. It was too large and heavy for me to even attempt to move, but if I left it here, it'd either starve to death or someone would find and kill it anyways.

My eyes slowly made their way back to my knife sheath. Or I could free it, that was always an option. I faltered when I noticed that its eyes were open. I had put away my knife while I was checking it, but now I regretted it a bit. When had it woken up? Had it just been pretending to be asleep? Then I realized I had probably woken it when I pressed up on it to reach the bola weight. But I had chosen what I was going to do.

So even more slowly than before, I moved up to it, eyes as green as mine watching heavily on me. I looked over the bola carefully, looking for the worst looking knot. Finding it, I carefully drew my knife and began sawing at it. The ropes snapped apart and I flinched, waiting for the killing blow. When none came, I saw the Night Fury sitting there patiently. I didn't understand why until I looked again, the ropes still bound it in a few places. But why would that matter? Did it want me to cut them?

Apparently I was thinking too much, as the dragon awkwardly limp hop walked over to me presenting his bound face to me. Praying to any gods that were listening that I wasn't making a mistake, I used the same careful and steady move to bring my knife up and start cutting away the rope. I stood stock still once the last of the rope on its face fell away. It tilted its head before it turned and presented its bound wings. I cut those away too, repeating for each bound limb presented to me.

Once finished it turned back to me, studying me with brilliant emerald eyes. The moment seemed to stretch on forever, before it leaned into me and inhaled. I closed my eyes, this was it, this was how I died, helping a dragon that turned me to cinders in return. And again, when nothing came I opened my eyes to find myself alone in the moonlight.


	3. Chapter 3 - I Can Wait a Bit Longer

Finding myself alone, I collapsed. I was still alive. My heart felt like it was going to burst from the fear alone. I took a while to collect myself before I headed back to my cove. I had to unpack the boat after all. Not to mention, I wanted to know who fired the Mangler and whether or not Fishlegs was okay. Which meant I wasn't leaving tomorrow night either.

I managed to finish that and get back to Berk just before sunrise. And just in time to see a brazier's iron basket roll away into the village. I winced, what happened while I was gone? On second thought, I didn't want to be around when the inevitable blame comes. Yeah, I'll just sneak back to the house. Turning and running with that thought.

Right into my father. I bounced painfully off his armour on the ground. Looking up, "Uh, hi. Didn't see ya there Dad." Yeah, that doesn't sound sheepish at all.

He helps me up before asking, "Where were you, Hiccup, tonight during the raid?"

Ah, the probing question. "I, uh, was on the cliffside for a bit fiddling with one of my machines when the raid bells went off. I left it there and hid in the forest." There, that was a safe answer. A bit of truth in each sentence. I hope that's enough.

"Then…." he starts before drifting off and looking at the village where everyone is trying to put out fires.

I got what he was getting at immediately, "Nope, not me in any way this time. Nope."

We both stood there awkwardly. "So…," we both began and stopped at the same time, the awkwardness between us worsening, "you first."

I couldn't really meet his eyes, not having had many non-argumentative conversations with him in the last few years. "Dad, you can go first."

"Are you sure?" I nodded, "Okay, I just wanted you to know that I'm glad you're safe and if you were heading home."

"Yeah, I'm glad you're safe too Dad and I was just about to go back to the house when I ran into you." I think that was a decent response. Err, maybe I should ask about the brazier. "So, what happened with the brazier?"

"Ah, nothing you need to worry about. The Thorston twins said that you caused it, but since you weren't here throughout the raid I think I'll have to talk to them about it again." He clapped me on my back, pitching me forward a bit. "Now off to bed with ya."

That went well at least, I thought to myself as I rubbed the parts of my back I could reach. Maybe I didn't have anything to worry about after all. Since I didn't have to worry about Stoick anymore, I think I'll go check on the Mangler. Figure out why or who fired it.

I took a few shortcuts to get to the cliffside with the Mangler and found a mess for my efforts. The Mangler was smashed to bits, there were burnt patches of ground everywhere and perhaps most importantly of all, a trapped Monstrous Nightmare. I was curious about it, but not enough to get close to it. I'd sit back and watch since the Mangler only had one shot loaded, so someone had to have captured this one.

I didn't have to wait long, as Stoick was marching both the twins up to the cliffside, likely berating them the entire way up. It felt vaguely nice to see them in trouble after likely blaming me for whatever went wrong. Which in this case was probably setting off the Mangler. The question of how they set it off in the first place drifted through my mind before I refocused on what was happening.

"But chief, we hit something!-Yeah, totally!-You can't blame me for knocking over the brazier.-Yeah, wait don't you mean us.-Nope, just me." Ruffnut and Tuffnut's exchange quickly dissolves into bickering about who got the blame.

"Enough! You both are equally responsible and will be treated as such!" Stoick roars, breaking up their fight, "Winter is fast approaching and we don't have the time or resources to deal with your shenanigans! Your punishment will be extended repair, hunting, and fishing duty for the next month."

The twins looked stricken at that and whispered something to each other.

"Yes, you will have to work. Any further trouble will prolong your punishment." Stoick turns away from the twins to look at the captured Nightmare. "At least one good thing happened. We were able to capture a Nightmare for dragon training. Now off with you two, you have work to do."

They hurry off before they can be saddled with anything else. I'd have to avoid them as much as possible for the next month. If I was still here for it, I didn't want to be their frustration outlet after all. With nothing else to see here, I returned back the house to get some much needed sleep.


	4. Chapter 4 - Dragon Training, Really?

So a bit on the shorter end today, only 725 words, but I'll try for longer in a few chapters as I try and get things to pick up a bit. Uh, I mentioned that magic might pop up and have decided it will. Not necessarily important now, but eh, I thought I'd mention it. Again, sorry for the shortish chapter. Enjoy.

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With the fading evening light dimly illuminating my room, I awoke from a nightmare about the previous night. The details were becoming more and more vague as I lay there, but the jist of it was simple. I died in some horrific way.

 _Snap out of it, Hiccup. It was just a dream._ Yeah, just a dream. Had to keep telling myself that. Sighing, I got out of bed. I hadn't expected to be allowed to sleep all the way till now. Guess no one wanted the _Useless_ one around for repairs. It was still rather strange, Gobber would've come to pick me up to help around the forge. Gods knew that we needed every set of hands to help repair after a raid.

Getting dressed, I headed downstairs to find something to eat before starting over to the smithy and get a bit of work done. To my surprise, I found Stoick already sitting in his chair by the fireplace. It couldn't be that late yet for him to be here, could it?

"Ah, there you are Hiccup! I was waiting for you to wake up," speaking very loudly as he stood to face me, "I've some great news for you!"

News for me? Great? A knot of dread started building inside me. It likely was something I would find quite troublesome. Putting on my best cheerful face, "Yeah? What's the great news?"

"You're finally getting your wish. You'll be joining Gobber's latest dragon training class with the rest of the teens." Finishing, he puts on a very expectant face. Gods, I felt like shrinking under his gaze. That knot, it just grew by several magnitudes. Think Hiccup, think!

"Heh heh, uhh, yeah great news!" That sounded so false in my ears. Cringing mentally already, I tried my best to sound excited. "Uh, when's it start?"

Stoick was beaming at me with those words. It felt so very wrong when I was just trying to get through this conversation as quickly as possible to get out of here.

"Here, you'll need this," handing me an axe I could barely lift from all the forgework I did, "Now when you carry this axe, you carry all of us with you. Meaning you walk like us, talk like us, think like us. No more all of … this." Gesturing at all of me with that last sentence. Gee, thanks Stoick for the confidence boost there.

"Yeah, okay. If that's it Dad, I'm going to find something to eat before heading over to the smithy to get a bit of work done." Let this be it please.

"Ah, no. Just one more thing I wanted to give you." He pulls out a helmet from behind him, handing it to me. "I wanted you to have this…. It was made from half of your mother's breastplate. Keeps her close you know.?" Followed by a quick rapping on his own helmet.

Gross, definitely a bit gross. Holding it a bit gingerly, I respond, "Mmhmm, thanks Dad. I'll be sure to use it." Maybe, I tack on mentally.

Stoick smiles and hefts a bag I hadn't notice before, "Good, now I'll be going on one last hunt for the dragons' nest before winter sets in. So train hard. I'll be back. Probably."

"And I'll be here. Maybe."

The door slams shut behind him and I collapse into his chair, face cupped in my hands. This couldn't have come at a worst time. Maybe in another lifetime I'd have been ecstatic about dragon training, but I gave up on being a viking years ago. Evidently shown by me not killing or even trying to kill the Night Fury. My plans were going to have to go on hold again, since Gobber oversees dragon training. And he'd come looking for me if I didn't show up, dragging along as much of the village as possible.

Staring at the ceiling, I thought to myself, ' _Why can't things ever go my way.'_

With a sigh, I heaved myself out of the chair. No point in dwelling on it, what is done is done. Just have to make the most out of it. One good thing that comes out of this is I don't have to sleep here now. Time to find something to eat and see what needs to be done at the forge.

* * *

Oh yeah, the breast hat (I saw someone call it this in another fanfic and it stuck) shows up a bit early too. Mostly since Hiccup didn't get into as much trouble as movie counterpart, but that's only because he withdrew from most everyone. And that just causes a bunch of little changes that lead up to getting it earlier than in movie. Yeah. See ya next week. I'm aiming for a Sunday release, but no promises on that.


	5. Chap 5- I Really Should've Expected This

Someone noted a few differences already, namely the twins setting off the Mangler and the lack of Toothless roaring at Hiccup. Well, a few more differences pop up in this chapter and that Hiccup may get OOC in the next few chapters. I tried to keep his voice, but I think I failed. I'll let you guys decide over the next few chapters (might not be so visible in this chapter). Enjoy! (I got the Sunday release!)

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As luck would have it, Gobber had very little forgework for me last night and I got to steal away to my hidden home for some much restful sleep. Now, I slipping through the village in the silence of dawn, no one awake yet. I have no desire to see or greet anyone, not when they all look at me with quiet disdain.

I arrive at the training pit shortly and slide through gate bars without raising it. I knew that I could do so, since I had helped Gobber replace it and left just enough room between two of the bars for me to get through. Looking around, I found no one. Just the weapons and shields racks. Perfect, I was the first one here. Not that there was much to do at the moment.

An hour of waiting later, I heard voices coming closer. It was about time they got here. Note to self to bring notebook tomorrow, they take forever to get here. I stood from where I had been sitting as the gate opened.

"So, I totally saved Astrid's life when the brazier came down." A muffled smack followed by an, "Oww!" Told me that Snotlout, my oh so dear cousin (note the sarcasm), and Astrid, the most beautiful girl and dangerous warrior in our age group, were among the first in. How typical for Snotlout to over-exaggerate, serves him right. The twins and Fishlegs walk in behind them.

I scan Fishlegs for injuries, but see none. I felt a bit of relief at that. We may not have been as close as we once were, but we were still friends. And friends look out for each other.

"WELCOME TO DRAGON TRAINING!" Gobber boomed from outside the chain link enclosure. "HERE, YOU WILL BE TRAINED TO FIGHT DRAGONS. NOW LET'S GET STARTED RECRUITS. BEHIND EACH OF THE DOORS YOU SEE IN FRONT OF YOU LIES A FEW OF THE DIFFERENT DRAGON SPECIES YOU WILL ENCOUNTER THROUGHOUT YOUR LIFE."

"THE DEADLY NADDER. THE HIDEOUS ZIPPLEBACK. THE MONSTROUS NIGHTMARE. THE TERRIBLE TERROR. AND … THE GRONCKLE." Gobber paces along the enclosure, rattling off the name of the dragon within. To the side of me, I hear Fishlegs murmuring some of the stats of each dragon listed. What worries me however is that everything still feels safe. Which is never a good thing around Gobber teaching because it usually means something bad is about to happen to you.

And he's opening the Gronckle door. Without teaching us a thing. Like usual. Sigh, I really should have seen this coming. I was only his apprentice since I was nine after all. The others are squawking at him about teaching them first. I snort mentally, I already know the response. 'I believe in learning on the job.'

Nope, I'm off to get a shield while they're all distracted and place myself as far away from them as possible.

I tune back in to what Gobber is saying once I grab a decent shield I can carry. "… THE FIRST THING YOU NEED!"

"Plus five speed?" That's Fishlegs.

"No, a shield." And that's Astrid. Time to make myself scarce. I don't believe anyone but Gobber has noticed me yet and I plan on keeping it that way for as long as possible.

"SHIELDS, GO!" The rest of them scramble to grab a shield while I hunker down by the entrance gate, my shield blending into the stone of the arena.

I end up watching the twins fight over a shield and being eliminated for it after the Gronckle shoots it out of their hands. They're too involved in their personal fight to notice me on their way out. Gobber teaches them a bit after that, pointing out that loud noises can throw off a dragon's aim and that they can use the shields to make lots of it.

"NOW, EVERY DRAGON HAS A LIMITED AMOUNT OF SHOTS. HOW MANY DOES A GRONCKLE HAVE?"

Snotlout shouts a loud, but incorrect, "Five!"

Fishlegs corrects him immediately with, "No, six!"

"RIGHT, THAT'S ONE FOR EACH OF YA!" Oh no, he's going to point me out now isn't he.

"One for each of us? But there's only five of us here including Tuffnut and Ruffnut!" Astrid comments, circling the Gronckle carefully.

"NOPE, THERE'S YOU, FISHLEGS, SNOTLOUT, THE TWINS, AND HICCUP! WHO'S DONE A GOOD JOB OF HIDING, BUT NEEDS TO GET IN THERE!" Fishlegs is momentarily surprised and has his shield shot out of his hands. "FISHLEGS, OUT!"

That's four shots left. I can do this. Maybe. I'll just, hide behind Snotlout. Yup. That's what I'll do. He deserves some pain for the pain he's inflicted on me, my entire memorable life.

Astrid and Snotlout are surprised as well, but recovered before the dragon reoriented and fired at them too. I pick up my shield and move away from the walls. The Gronckle targets Astrid at the same moment Snotlout moves closer to her to do something. She promptly cartwheels away, leaving my meat-shield to be blasted flat on his back. There goes plan A. Plan B it is!

I scurry over behind the Gronckle, stepping as lightly as I could. The Gronckle takes another shot at Astrid, who dodges the shot with a perfectly timed roll. Two shots left. I can definitely do this. Just hide behind the Gronckle where it can't see you. Great plan.

Only now, it's spinning around faster than I expected it to and spots me. Did it understand Gobber when he said there were enough shots for each of us? No time. I drop the shield and leap away landing flat on the ground as the shot strikes where I was standing. I struggled to get up and moving before another shot came.

I could hear the dragon charging its last shot. I wouldn't get up in time. My body couldn't do what my mind was telling it. It wasn't physically used to it.

That's when everything seemed to stop. My heart beat slowing to almost nothing. A quiet acceptance fell over me. This would be the end of my story. It hadn't ended when I confronted the Night Fury, but it would here. Even so, it was almost fitting, dying a death in something I never wished to be part of; on the verge of breaking off to carry out my own life away from here. A hiccup in the plan, so to say.

Time rushed forward. The blast sailed just over my head, slamming into the wall just a few body-lengths away from me.

"And that's six!" Gobber says, pulling the Gronckle back to its pen with his hook hand. "Back to bed ya, ya overgrown sausage! Don'cha worry, you'll have another chance at them." Once back in the cage he signals Fishlegs to close its pen.

He waits for all of us to gather up before continuing, "Remember … a dragon will always, always go for the kill. That's all for today. You're all dismissed." He walks away, leaving us to mull over his words. The reminder he gave felt pointed towards me more than anything. I flicked my eyes over the others and left before they remembered my presence. I needed somewhere isolated to break down properly after a second near death experience in as many days.


	6. Chapter 6 - React

I'm not particularly happy with this chapter but, oh well it is what it is. Enjoy.

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I went to the best place I knew to be alone. My home. Not that empty house back in the village. That hadn't been home for a long time now. Not since I decided I wasn't a viking anymore. Not since the village turned their backs to me. Not since my father stopped being my dad.

I took the longest, twisted path I could, no matter how much I wanted to take a shorter one. I wouldn't risk being followed, unlikely as it was, after being brought to attention today. The others, not Fishlegs or Astrid, would probably want to use me as a punching bag for their failures in dragon training. I shuddered, no I would not be attending anymore trainings after today. I wasn't a fighter. I was a creator, an inventor, a maker. I quickened my pace, wanting to lay down and rest and stop thinking for a while.

The rest of the trip past in a blur, trees and rocks melding together. I lit a fire and loaded up the auto-log adder before I crashed onto my bed, asleep.

* * *

When I woke, my first conscious thought was of the darkness I was in. Beyond that, I couldn't really think of what to do. Slowly after that, I thought to turn my head towards where I had the fire burning earlier and found the fire had burned down to lightly glowing embers. They were oddly fascinating, as parts of them dimmed and others brightened. I watched for what felt like ages until they all died. Once I thought that, the word died stuck with me. It felt as though I was forgetting something important. I ruminated on it until I remembered. I had almost died twice in two days. The first to a Night Fury and the second to Gronckle fire. The memories looped over and over until my mind caught a detail I hadn't given much thought to yet. Gobber telling us "a dragon will always, always go for the kill."

The Night Fury hadn't killed me. If that were true then I should have been dead. Instead it let me live and vanished. Why? I thought as I sat up. Why didn't it kill me? If they were exactly as we thought they were, then I'd be dead. Was it because I helped it? I didn't kill it when I had the chance to? I couldn't know without being able to talk to dragons. If they could talk and were intelligent enough to hold a conversation. This was frustrating. I'd go back to check the crash site again tomorrow when there was more light. But, I needed to eat now though since I hadn't had anything since morning.

I rekindled the fire and set about making a simple meal. I didn't keep much fish or meat here as it didn't keep well unless properly preserved and since I normally ate back at the village. I'd make due with my garden vegetables. I plucked one of the few cabbages still growing this late into the season, then moved on to collect a few nettle buds and carrots. I'd make a soup out of them. I didn't cook often, but it was a nice hobby. I washed the vegetables in one of the nearby salt water pools before I brought them back in for another wash with fresh water. I minced the cabbage head, peeled and chopped the carrots, and left the nettles alone. I set the latter two aside and filled a kettle with fresh water, the cabbage, and a small amount of mead before placing it over the fire. I'd leave that to heat and start preparing spices. From the hanging selection of dried herbs, I pulled a few cloves of garlic and coriander seed pods. I crushed the cloves and ground the seeds, then put them into a small bowl filled with a bit of fat set by the fire to cook for a bit. Once done, I added it and the other vegetables in to simmer. I'd add salt when it was almost done cooking, gods knew I had more than enough of it from extracting fresh water out of sea water.

Twenty minutes later, I had a nice warm soup that I quickly finished. With my hunger sated, I felt a bit more alive and relaxed than I did after waking up. I now needed to decide what to do. I could try to sleep until sunrise to check the crash site or I could spend my time doing something productive. Considering each carefully, I chose to do something productive. I had been sleeping more than I was comfortable with lately and wanted to get some work done. Besides that, since Stoick left I had essentially free reign allowing me to really flesh out and improve some of my designs.

Or I might want to start designing some defensive items considering how I seemed to be on a come-close-to-dying streak. That would definitely be a good idea. I lit a candle from the hearthfire and settled in at my table with my sketchbook. With defense on my mind, I started with a shield. Simple, but necessary. I drew a quick design for it before setting it aside, I'd add on to it as time went by. Armor came next, but I wasn't quite sure what I wanted for it. If I used metal, then it'd be too difficult for me to move in, and if I used leather, I'd still be vulnerable to a lot of things. Again, I sketched out what I wanted it to look like and moved on, materials could be resolved at a later date when I was making it.

I stalled after that. I knew I wasn't great with weaponry and I greatly disliked fighting. So I turned to other thoughts. Specifically the Night Fury. I could still remember the warmth of its scales. The slitted emerald eyes. The size of it. The moment it scented me and I thought I was about to die. I turned to a new page and started drawing what I remembered of it. It wouldn't matter if someone ever saw these drawings since they wouldn't know what it was. I drew the pattern of the scales. The eyes. The wings. The tail. I drew all that I could recall and more until first light was upon me.


	7. Chapter 7 - Decisions

I barely noticed the dawn's coming with how engrossed I'd been in drawing. Somewhere along the line, I changed from drawing only the Night Fury to every other dragon species I'd seen so far. I flipped through all the drawings, surprised at how well each drawing had come out from memory, before reheating the last of the soup from last night. I gulped it down as fast I could and left the cabin with a fresh sketchbook and knife.

The thought of dragon training breezed through my mind before I dismissed it. I loved Gobber as a dad, but I wouldn't be going to anymore trainings. I'd let him know later today after I investigated the crash site so he wouldn't worry. The trip to the crash site took no where near as long as it did the first, even if I had to get my bearings first.

It looked different in the light of day. Trees torn loose of the ground, the earth rent from the impact, the bolas laying haphazardly everywhere from when I cut them loose. I moved closer to where the dragon had lain and found black scales scattered about, likely ripped loose from the Night Fury as it skid across the ground. Picking one up, I found it to be surprisingly light. I'd collect a few to experiment with later.

I learned more than I knew before, but I didn't find any trace of where the Night Fury went. It could have flown off, but that didn't feel right. It should have been injured from it's fall, enough that it would want to heal first. So where did it go? Somewhere safe and secluded was a given. I racked my brain for any place like that near here. I'd explored the entirety of Berk back when I was looking for somewhere to hide myself. So I should be able to find where it was hiding. The deeper glades of Berk were well hidden and difficult to reach without knowledge of where you were going. The caves were easy to get to, but some of them were incredibly vast and fiendishly complex. The various canyons, gorges, and ravines weren't worth checking as they had few easy access and exit points for something as large as the Night Fury. Then there were other coves hidden across Berk, but I eliminated them with the canyons, gorges, and ravines for the same reason, inaccessibility. And I'm an idiot, only inaccessible walking, not flying.

With the multitude of hiding spots, the dragon could be hiding in any of them. I breathed in and out, this was going to take a while if it isn't in any of the nearby areas. Glades first, then canyons, gorges, and ravines that could hide a dragon, then the coves, and the caves would be ignored due to the substantial amount of time it'd take to explore them completely. I'd start immediately, this would only take a day or two to finish.

* * *

The deep forests of Berk were known collectively as the Trickster's Forest for the number of illusions and mirages that occurred here. I knew better. The apparitions resulted from approaching a certain flower too closely. I called them illussums and where they grew most densely marked where the glades were hidden. How the flowers produced their illusions, I could guess with magic, as I had only heard of people seeing and hearing that which terrified them the most. Hah, I wondered what illusion would form this time. Stoick or the other teens or the villagers attacking me? A dragon? Knowing what created the visions and that they were nothing more than a shade of their true counterparts made it so much less frightening.

But even if the illusions were less frightening, it wouldn't stop me from jumping when they came out of nowhere. So, when I neared at one of the glades I proceeded slowly, keeping careful watch on my surroundings, both for the illusions and for signs of a dragon.

Stepping fully into the glade without any interference, I became slightly confused and concerned. No protective illusions, even though the illussums showed their singular sign, a faint purple glow within their hooded flowers, of being active.

"Why, hello there young man. What might you be doing here, so deep in the forest?" I froze at the silky smooth voice. It wasn't one I recognized. I turned to face the speaker.

"What's wrong, sprite got your tongue boy?" The man chuckled at his own question. He was slightly shorter than Stoick, but there was no comparison between their appearances. The man looked as if he were sculpted from ice, but in no way was he ugly. It was the complete opposite, every detail perfect, from his clothing to his face, he was the most handsome person I'd ever seen. Were it not for the lack of all color I would have mistaken him for a true person. I looked up at his eyes and shivered. Even without color they were piercing, weighted with something I didn't know the name for.

"Heh, heh, uh, I'm just walking around. Uh, normal stuff. You know." I was fumbling everywhere with my words, tongue-tied. I couldn't keep looking at him. The aura he gave was too unbalancing. My eyes landed at his feet. They were creating depressions in the soft grass of the glade. He wasn't an illusion, he was real. My heart started beating faster. This wasn't what I'd been expecting when I came out here. A dragon sure, a strange unknown being not so much.

"Now, now, isn't it quite rude to lie to another, Hiccup? If you hadn't wished to speak the truth then you should have said so. So I will ask again. Just what are you doing here?" I could almost see the smile in his strangely alluring voice, the way his face would twist into a playful mocking one. He was stepping closer to me.

"Just say it." He whispered into my ear, leaning towards me.

I shuddered as I spoke, "I'm looking for a dragon."

He stepped back and laughed, a strong raucous sound. I quickly glanced and turned my gaze from him. The joy displayed on his face seemed distorted by touch of madness. "Haha. A good answer. You seem promising, so I will lend you a small bit of assistance. There are no dragons within this forest. So, little hiccup, you'd best run along now before you're caught."

I ran once I was dismissed. And if I had bothered looking back, I would have seen the predatory look a human face could produce plastered all over the man's face. But I didn't and just ran, with nothing on my mind but getting away from the man who knew things that he shouldn't have.

* * *

I lost track of how far and long I ran, but I knew it'd been a while, since the sun had started to set. I collapsed against a rock, trying to catch my breath. With a shaky laugh I thought to myself that I've been running from a lot of things lately. Just what was I doing, trying to find a dragon? I leaned back a little more to watch the evening sky. I should just forget about the Night Fury and worry about leaving. I sighed, really, honestly why was even out here. Which is when I heard the scraping of something against rock and a faint draconic cry.

* * *

So, against my better judgement, I'm releasing this chapter today. I had a couple buffer chapters written, but I ran out since I couldn't figure out how I wanted to take things after this. The reason for that is because I decided on utilizing magic and how it affected a few dragon species. Night Furies are one of the species affected and the change isn't exactly minor. Very short version of the change is Night Furies are born with only half of their soul, the other born attached to another intelligent being. It's not hard to guess where that leads. Any ways, I don't want to reveal more than that, but overall the next chapter really sets the nature of Hiccup and Toothless's relationship for a long while. I don't know, I mean if anyone really really wants to know how the soul thing is gonna affect things, they can P.M. me. Hhhhhhh, well I don't know what else to really say. Hope you enjoyed the second chapter in as many days. (The line of h's is probably the best approximation of a sigh using only letters.)


	8. Chapter 8 - Entranced

I am alive, and very sorry for going dark for a while. Without the buffer chapters, I got rather lazy about writing so this one is very much late. Not sure how much I like it either, but it is what it is and if I decide to rewrite this later on I'll probably do in a rewrite of the whole story. So not anytime soon. Anyways enjoy and I'll try to get some buffer chapters written up again. Updates until they're written will be highly sporadic and have to update schedule.

* * *

I paused, strained to see if I heard what I thought I did. The cry came again, sounding faint but still close. I couldn't believe my luck, just as I thought about giving up my search I stumble over what could be the dragon I was looking for. Did the gods enjoy messing around with my life? I had to ask myself, " _Do I still want to find the Night Fury?_ " and found I could only answer yes. Even if my life was simply a joke to the gods, I knew that I had to see the Night Fury again.

My choice made, I stood and started listening for the scrabbling of claw against rock. As I followed the sound, I couldn't help but grow more anxious, more excited. I was conflicted. My heart was doing its best leap out of my chest as I stepped through a corridor similar to the one leading to my home. Exiting into a much lusher cove than my own. A quick look around the cove allowed me to confirm which I was in, although I didn't see the Night Fury.

With my location confirmed, I scanned over the cove from my vantage point noting the changes from the last time I came here. There were the expected claw marks scored all over the cove walls which also had a few sections blasted apart or turned to slag, a few trees knocked over, and a large blackened patch of earth close to the lake. Still no sign of the Night Fury's location. This was slightly frustrating/relieving.

 _Now what, do I take my chances and head down into the cove or stay where I am?_ My musings were interrupted when the Night Fury swooped past me, the gusts of wind trailing it knocking me onto my back. _At least I know where it is now,_ I thought as I rolled over and crawled over to the ledge.

I was breathless when I caught sight of it. In the fading light, the dragon's scales appeared to shimmer and consume the light as it prowled around the cove before stopping by the lake and snaps its head into the water. I jerked myself back to reality and pulled my sketchbook out to start sketching the dragon in better depth. As I drew I thought on the destruction strewn about. The dragon had been, maybe; most likely still, trying escape the cove and likely started demolishing stuff when it couldn't get out. Were its injuries that bad?

Frowning, I looked back over my sketches and compared them to the Night Fury. Head looked fine, wings looked fine, tail … not so much. Flipping back and forth between the sketches I drew last night from memory and just now. Half the tailfin was missing from my newest sketches. I could only assume that the dragon lost the fin sometime during its crash and I hadn't noticed.

There wasn't anything I could do now, in any case. If I even wanted to. Gah, I really didn't know what I wanted to accomplish from find the dragon. _Later Hiccup, later. Leave the deep thinking for after you've gotten some rest, and some food._ I amended my thought when my stomach growled. The sunlight was gone now and I should probably get back to the village. I'd drop my sketchbook off at home then head over to the great hall to make an appearance for today and eat. Yeah, that sounded like a plan. I could even tell Gobber I'm dropping out of dragon training.

* * *

After I dropped my sketchbook off and grabbed a new one, I made my way through the shadowy forest, making sure to avoid going through any patches of the Trickster's Forest. It added a bit of time to my route, but I had no desire to meet that creature again, whatever it was.

I reached the village close to midnight and made my way to the Great Hall where there'd hopefully still some food left. If not, it wasn't as if I hadn't gone without before. I pushed open one of the doors as quietly as I could before slipping in as I allowed it to slowly slide shut, another mechanism I came up and passed onto Gobber. My eyes quickly adjusted to the low, flickering light cast by the many torches and braziers throughout the hall. I made a quick note that neither Gobber nor any of the other trainees were here eating. Gobber had a penchant for keeping them late to talk and go over their many mistakes and flaws. I knew first-hand after all, I used to accompany him sometimes both before and after I made my resolution to leave Berk once I feasibly could and survive. That probably meant that he had them elsewhere, most likely one of the defensive structures around the village. Shaking my head, there wasn't any real reason to seek Gobber out now anyways, there was always tomorrow. I grabbed a few leftover pieces of chicken and bread eating quickly. I wanted nothing more than to sleep currently, as long of a day as it's been. And sleep is what I got upon getting to the house and getting in bed. I blacked out, dreaming of nothing but dragons and glass men.


End file.
